#invented true love

[goginaporter]

let you go, the ricky bowen original, is about ricky and gina. I know, I know. ricky wrote that song to process his breakup with nini and it includes direct references to their relationship. I should say that the song, and ricky’s acceptance of letting someone he loves go, is reflective of rina’s journey throughout the show.

“sometimes the last, best thing we can do for someone we truly love is to let them go.” ricky’s mom shares this with him as he’s dealing with his breakup, leading to him writing the aforementioned song. but as I thought about the line and the scene and the song, I began to realize how much this sentiment could be applied to rina. ricky and gina bond in s1 and form a fast friendship (though it was never just friendship). however, gina is forced to move due to her mom’s job and the two are ripped away from each other. at first, ricky struggles to accept this. he texts his constantly, tells the theater kids that gina will be back for opening night with confidence, despite the fact that she isn’t responding to his messages. however, as time passes and gina does respond, confirming her move away from slc, ricky has to accept that she’s not coming back. but then she does! “one night only,” she quips with a sad smile, but he’s excited to see her nonetheless. and as far as they both know, this is true.

the flashback scene of opening night reveals to the audience the tearful goodbye the two share as gina tells ricky that she wouldn’t quit on them if she wasn’t forced to move away. he pulls her into a hug and that’s how the scene ends for the audience. this is ricky letting gina go. he doesn’t expect to see her again and he is grateful for the time he did have with her. of course, gina staying throws a wrench into this. in 201, we see how he grapples with this as he insists that the resolution, that belongs to nini, stating that the person would “resolve to follow their dreams, no matter how far away they take [them].” with gina, it’s never a question if she can follows those dreams in his eyes, but that he’ll always support her, even if it takes her away from him. he loves her, so he set her free

what’s interesting to note is that the second half of the saying, “if you love someone, set them free (let them go).” says that “if it’s meant to be, they’ll come back to you.” gina came back to ricky. and so, just as gina’s speech parallels what she said in her speech to ricky on opening night, where she said she had to go and he accepted that, their kiss scene culminates into a moment where ricky stops her from leaving. he let her go, she came back to him, so he wouldn’t let her slip through his fingers again. he found his meant to be. for gina, ricky is her dream. she stayed in slc, arguably, due in large part to him and what their relationship meant to her. for ricky, someone who had to watch so many people that he loved leave him, having gina stay and having her choose him as her dream, as her yes, is profound and so beautiful :’)

from letting her go...

... to them realizing they’re meant to be. 

[harocat]

Y’all GET ON IT. Advance, history makers!

AO3 Top Relationships Bracket- Round 2 Side 1

This poll is a celebration of fandom history; we're aware that there are certain issues with many of the listed pairings and sources, but they are a part of that history. Please do not take this as an endorsement, and refrain from harassment.

[maicaronns]

Ithaca royal family doodles yayy yippeee

[parvuls]

no, because - famous person starts dating less famous person and is then gradually overshadowed is a trope. a trope often used to bring external conflict into stories. but jack and bitty are carefully constructed as the opposite of that, and I'm fucking feral over it.

we joke about how jack will eventually be bitty's trophy husband and be thrilled about it, but it definitely has a giant grain of truth in it. it's how they're characterized. bitty is an extrovert; jack is an introvert. bitty reached out and built himself an online audience to deal with his trauma; jack shut himself out and started avoiding the public to deal with his.

bitty finds comfort in being able to talk to others and (as seen in spotlight on eric bittle) considers being a public figure a sort of healing experience: coming out and being a public person (in every manner of speaking, not just sexuality wise) and putting himself in the limelight is such an important part of his journey because he sees it as a way of helping others who were in his situation.

jack grew up in the spotlight as the only son of two prominent figures. he grew up as a child with anxiety with the media's eyes on him as he was compared to his father. he grew up as an overweight teen featuring in trashy gossip columns as he was compared to his mother. he got into rehab in part because of this attention and it only attracted more attention to him. a lot of jack's anxiety stems from the notion of people looking at him and thinking about him and talking about him and judging him, and it's unfortunate because jack's dream is to play hockey, and that comes with even more attention.

but that's the thing: jack and bitty's story is (once again) a demonstration of two people making each other's lives better.

jack's fame thrusts bitty into the spotlight post-cup, and it's a giant push forward in helping him reach a bigger audience and thus grow his independent fame. bitty's growing fame slowly overshadows jack, to the point where ngozi says they'll one day be Eric Bittle and his Athlete Husband. and that means jack gets to play hockey, and win cups, and achieve fame in his own field, but the media's attention slides off him to his husband, and the fans on the street gradually approach bitty more than him, and jack is free to have his success with less of the personal scrutiny.

it's not that jack becomes less important than bitty. it's that bitty gets to stand in front of the direct sun and flourish as a result, while jack gets to stand in the shade bitty creates and flourish as a result. it's symbiosis. it's beautiful.

[orangehalfpeeled]

the only roommates ever !!!!!!

[guided-by-stars]

When Siffrin first asks Loop why they’re helping him, their response seems uninteresting at first. “Because I think you should be helped. I won't always have the answers, but I think having someone on your side to talk to is better than dealing with this alone.” Well, of course. The guide is helping you because they want to, and obviously it’s important to have someone not looping to talk to or else you’d go crazy.

But once you learn more about who Loop is… once you learn that they have this deep revulsion and bitterness and resentment eating away at their heart, that they’re so upset that Siffrin has unintentionally replaced them and stolen away everything they had that they tried to kill him. They knew that killing them wouldn’t bring their friends back, their place in their party back, but they wanted so desperately the satisfaction of taking everything that Siffrin stole from them, away from them too. To make them even. They needed that catharsis so desperately, to break him down, to bring them back to the desperation and hopelessness that Loop felt in that moment. Their role was up. The curtains had fell. They had no reason to be there anymore. They needed Siffrin to feel the same way that they did, for them to be one again. “You’re me, so why can’t you feel this pain too? We should both drown, I should drag you under, take your helping hand and pull you into my coffin, let’s be buried together.”

But at the same time, they weren’t lying, when they said that. They do truly and wholly think Siffrin should be helped. That he deserved to be helped. And they pushed themselves so hard to help them in every single way that they could. They told him that he could confide in his friends, in the very beginning. They say “Don’t make the same mistakes that I did.” when teaching them to zone out. They desperately plea and beg and make a mess of themselves trying to prevent them from killing themselves with the dagger. They tell him to help his friends, advise him on how to escape the loops, creates their own theories to propose to him while he’s gone, even listens when Siffrin explains his plan to talk to the King, despite thinking it was a horrible idea. They remind him of his parties names, when in a moment of panic and hopelessness, he looses it. They talk them through the panic, calm them down, remind them to breathe.

Loop cannot stand looking at the party. It hurts too much, to see these ghosts of the family that they loved, the family that they doomed. They say they cannot possibly see them, cannot let them see them. No matter what. It’s impossible for them. Despite that, when Siffrin goes off the rails in Act 5, breaks, they find them. They look at them. They tell the party what Siffrin is going through, they guide them through the whole House, give them everything they need to succeed. They devote themselves so truly to help, to their own detriment, because they want Siffrin to escape so desperately.

Siffrin says it himself. He could not have escaped without Loop. He would have resorted to something similar if he didn’t have them. He would have been doomed, without them. Without the loops in general? If he never made that wish? If his party split up? I truly think he might have killed himself then, too. The only way that Siffrin survives is by standing on the corpse of himself. Loop was always doomed to be the only reason why Siffrin was blessed. And even yet, Loop still truly believes that he deserves to be helped, genuinely wants to help him to be free.

[dixondean]

Tohru and Kyo really invented romance and true love 🩷🧡

[sammygender]

tbh i think i just find it more interesting to appreciate dean how he is and have zero interest in proving his general goodness. like maybe if i Didnt find that specific type of character so compelling id be more invested in mischaracterisation (though id like to think not <3).

but a lot of hellers/extreme deangirls dont approach spn like a horror show with the thesis 'family is hell' (which is what it initally Is) they approach it like a fantasy-comedy-action show with a funny bisexual mc and his gay angel bf. either because they're not interested or because theyre uncomfortable with the actual show thats there. which is their prerogative! like sure i guess. you do you.

but its interesting bc it means we have 2 fanbases which are rabidly different to each other and get completely different things out of the show and yet keep brushing up against each other. we parcel it into 'samgirl' and 'deangirl' but that makes it sound like its literally just Fans Of The Character when tons of samgirls (myself included <3) love dean. the real dean that is. (also even samgirl fandom is ripe w misinterpretation but all fandoms have that at least theyre kind-of misinterpreting the same show as me. deangirl fandom is something entirely different.)

[messiahzzz]

few extra tentacles? doesn't matter. gale is just excited to learn more about his squid spouse

[tunamayojazz]

[ditzyblues]

rottmnt hot take

gun to head ask me to name 5 casey jr personality traits. EVERYBODY DEAD!!

[yumaisbored]

started reading tgcf again and oh my i forgot how (hilariously) oblivious Xie Lian is to the fact that he is enamoured (blatantly in love) with Hua Cheng... pray for (to) them both fr

[goldengrecha]

Today I'm thinking about manga versions of Maxie and Archie, because it's something... I even dont have words for it. Like. Holy fucking shit.

In the beginning, of course, they're confront each other - that's the classic, they're rivals after all, standing for different things and all that things. They're different. They're opposites. They're still strongly exist in each other lives, because of their conflict.

But then

This happens. And this IS beginning of the end, because of course they're working together - and at the moment it looks like it is only for benefits for their goals, nothing else. They will destroy each other when they will get to finish.

They're fucking irritating(/pos), it almost feels like they're drawn to each other, in any scenario, their destiny is to meet, to exist in each other lives. None of them exist alone (and when one of them do exist alone, it means that something went terribly wrong).

AND THEN THINGS JUST GO EVEN WORSE (/pos)

This panel. I don't know where to start.

Do I need start with that they're realizing they work together perfectly? Do I start with that this making them thinking they needed to work together from the beginning? Do I start with that two men, who, up until this point, was fighting with each other and conflicting, hating each other, founded in each other the best partner they ever could have? Do I start with that they're probably the best persons in each other lives?

It is already very emotional (at least for me), but with how story goes on, they're connecting more and more, becoming even more emotionally fucked up.

AND THEN THERE IS EMERALD ARC???? CAN WE PLEASE TALK ABOUT EMERALD ARC???????

There is so much going on in emerald arc I barely can find words for describing my emotions.

This is the fucking tragedy. Because, what do you mean, they're put in situation where is only one of them can leave alive for some more time? (Remember how I said that if only ONE if them exist it means that some shit is going to happen something going to go really terrible. It either them both exist or them both don't).

What do you mean Archie is literally killed Maxie, just for chance of living a little longer?

And this is tragedy, because Archie, in the end, loses again. And now, not only he does lose in literal sense - he didn't achieve his goal, after all. He loses everything he had - his team, his life, and most importantly, he loses his only friend. He is all alone now.

Ah yeah can we talk about

This?

It's just one phrase. It has so much in it.

Not only he calls Maxie friend, not only he confess that Maxie probably the only one person which Archie was thinking as a friend, but also like.

Consider this: this isn't oras archie yet. This version of archie is cold, closed and gloomy, genuinely intimidating person. He doesn't care about his team members, it is kind of okay for him to use them as tools (which, ironically, shows even in this interaction with Maxie: after all, Archie still killed him for a chance of living a bit longer. And Archie acknowledging that he betrayed Maxie. He betrayed his only one friend). He is a cold person, but it almost seems like Maxie managed to warm him up a bit, just a little bit. This is actually incredible and, again, endlessly emotional, and I still can't stress this enough. Holy fucking shit.

Just imagine Archie at this point. Imagine, because, the best person in his life always was his rival. His rival, and maybe, even friend.

And I told about this before, but can we talk about that in distorted world they became one? It's just so symbolic. Like, Archie and Maxie from beginning were opposites, they was supporting opposite things, their goals was completely opposite. But they can't choose only one of this, because everything around them is a combination of different, sometimes opposite things. Like even the land and water in Hoenn! Exactly this combination of land and water create Hoenn as we know it, and how they know it. And they, people, who choosed only one of these things, in the end, became the one themselves - isn't this ironic? Isn't this funny? Isn't it symbolic in some way? (I also fucking love how this fusion explain in some way why when oras hits, Maxie is more like original Archie, and Archie more like original Maxie. They had explored each other minds I'm sure of it)

And finally, ORAS, part that I love the most.

Not only they both was given chance of living again, but this is literally their peak. They're working together again - and by that I mean they're working perfectly together.

They even acknowledge it themselves:

And this is so good in contrast with Ruby and Sapphire arc - back then, they too, realized and started to think they're work perfectly together, but it still was mixed with some evil fucked up shit, but here? They're working together because they (ironically), have the same goal. And they're helping each other.

They're working together perfectly, this is so good for them. And no evil bullshit this time! It's actually best versions of them in some way - because they're working together, for sake both of humanity and pokemon. They working towards happiness and safety for everyone, not choosing and prioritizing only one of them.

And they're talking to each other as if they was old friends, partners, every one of their interactions shines with this somewhat warm feeling. This is so good for them. I would even dare to say that ORAS part was the happiest moments in their lives.

And.. Then end of ORAS hits.

And, again, as classic already, it's a small panel, but how much here is.

First of all, can I point that Archie died two times, and both times he was thinking of Maxie in some way?

And both times is some kind of emotional moment for Archie: first time, he calls Maxie friend (he doesn't call him by name, but. He obviously talking about him COME ON), and second time he ask Maxie, if he would want to work together again, if they will have chance to do so. I just love seeing this progression, how Maxie became more and more dear person for Archie as time goes on, how he became more attached to him. And Maxie does too!

It is such an incredible moment filled with so much emotions, with so much sense. I love how Archie doesn't even say his question fully, but Maxie still understands him. Of course he does, because, I'm sure, even if Archie didn't ask this, Maxie still would think of it. I'm sure if none of them said this, they still would understand this wish to work together again that they both have. At this point, they are incredibly connected together, and they have only each other.

I also love this moment, because when Archie died first time, he was told that, if he will continue like this, he will end up all alone. And Archie agrees to that: he answer in the way that he is already accepted that he is alone now, and he doesn't even have Maxie by his side (I still can't get over that he really highlighted him in this speech holy fucking shit). BUT then, when he appears next time, he appears as ORAS self, and his ORAS self is very different from what he was, not only as a person, but his motivation is different, too.

He changed in some way. And he ISN'T alone, because now, Maxie is by his side again. And I can't stop thinking about how happy it probably made Archie.

And even dying, he is calm, because he isn't alone. He have Maxie by his side. His only friend.

[doods-eye]

THE PURE HYPOCRISY, THE FULL ON FUCKING AUDACITY, THE SMUG CONFIDENCE-

Tucker, when I get you, when I'll fucking get you, you'll wish your death was as merciful as being shot.

[irafuwas]

hi guys i still haven't recovered from the fact that as soon as silver understands his father truly does love him the BGM changes to a song that sounds like "once upon a dream" 🥲

clip source

[fujobritta]

every time someone says an even remotely good thing about jeffannie an angel loses their wings